Hollywood is focusing on the power of video games in recreation history. Popular leading man Leonardo DiCaprio has signed on to play arcade game legend and Atari Corp. founder Nolan Bushnell in a new biographical movie called Atari.

The National Dart Association (NDA) held its annual Team Dart International Championship at the Riviera Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas from April 18 through 26. The event attracted 14,000 international soft-tip dart players, representing Germany, France, Spain, Canada, Austria and the U.S.

Brunswick Bowling & Billiards and Pinnacle Entertainment Advisors have created a strategic partnership for new and existing bowling centers. Pinnacle will assist Brunswick in creating state-of-the-art game rooms and other family entertainment attractions for their venues. Company executives believe that bowling centers are evolving into the latest version of Family Entertainment Centers (FECs), with bowling as one of many activities.

Elected officials in Munroe Falls, Ohio have unanimously renewed a one-year ban on new applications for amusement arcades. The ban, which will run through early August 2009, prohibits gaming arcades "of any and all types" from operating.

The National Automatic Merchandising Association (NAMA) will evaluate how to protect the industry from a recent federal court decision. NAMA is the national trade association of the food and refreshment vending, coffee service and food service management industries. Many amusement companies also operate vending equipment.

Knowledgeable trade sources report that Arkansas-based Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, intends to decrease the number of coin-operated amusement games its stores offer in entry vestibules. While not completely eliminating the game category, stores will reconfigure the areas to stress three or four top quality games over larger inventories of average machines.

Following the 2005 devastation of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, businessman John Georges has decided to run as an independent candidate for the governor’s job. Georges’s businesses include AMA Distributors and Lucky Coin, a route operation, in a New Orleans suburb. He took over the two longtime companies following the death of popular former AMOA president Bob Nims.

The AMOA/Fun Expo conventions were jointly held from September 28-30 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Statistical information, as of press time, released on the second day- September 29- revealed the expo’s growth remained flat, showing losses in most categories.

Incredible Technologies (IT) has announced its plans to return to a more basic approach to attract a wider range of customers. The innovative game maker helped create a revolution in online amusement games with Golden Tee Fore.

Knowing the importance of educating legislators, the Amusement and Music Operators Association (AMOA) visited the U.S. Congress in Washington, D.C. on May 15. The programme, an annual event in the late 1980s and 1990s, had been discontinued for several years prior to this delegation of industry operators and association leaders. The trade press, plus the leaders from the AAMA accompanied the 30 AMOA members

A National Currency Poll taken in late April has revealed that Americans prefer historic icons for the new $1 coin rather than political leaders. The study, conducted by Coinstar Inc. tested for consumer awareness, interest and thoughts on the new coin. Although 60% of the public knows about the new dollar coin, only 16% are choosing to use them so far.

Following the tragic massacre of 32 students and faculty members at Virginia Tech in April, the video game violence debate has resurfaced. Media outlets reported that the killer, Seung-Hui Cho, was an avid fan of violent video games. Research that has been reported in previous columns has stated that this issue has remained in the forefront of the scientific and psychological communities.

In this era of downloaded music and iPods, a Nielsen SoundScan report reveals that CD sales dropped 20% in the first quarter of 2007. Sales of downloaded singles increased during the same period, though downloaded album sales declined by 10%.

ollowing the fanfare of the February introduction of the new $1 Presidential coins in Philadelphia, the U.S. Mint has acknowledged that is produced a number of flawed George Washington $1 coins.

In early March, Jukes Direct of southern California created a controversy when it announced a plan to sell downloading jukeboxes directly to locations. Both the operating and distributing segments of the industry were in an uproar.

For the first time, thousands of contestants at the National Dart Association’s (NDA) annual Team Dart competition at the Riviera Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada will be prohibited from smoking on location.

Police, prosecutors and other officials in Alabama, Florida and Texas are cracking down on adult arcades, gray-area video slots, eight-liners and other forms of “adult redemption” games.

The amusement industry’s best pinball players in the world will be crowned at this year’s Amusement Showcase International (ASI) convention, taking place on March 28-30 in Las Vegas. The ASI and the International Flipper Pinball Association (IFPA) will sponsor the first annual championship competition.

The American culture war continues, seeping into the amusement industry. "Left Behind: Eternal Forces," a new Christian video game has become the latest battleground for both sides of the religious battleground. Left Behind Games Inc., the manufacturer, claims it promotes prayer.

Robert C. Ward, one of the four original partners in Bay Tek Games, died in December. Originally from El Paso, Texas, Ward found his way up north and graduated from the Madison School of Banking and then served his country in the United States Air Force. “He was the money man and the funny man,” said Larry Treankler, CEO of Bay Tek Games.